electrician - rip off?

Question

after many bids i choose this dood for a complete re-wire.

he claimed he had to hire 4 guys to help him - i was to pay each of them (5 guys) $55/hr. (this was 4 years ago)
but everytime i showed up at the house he was clean as a whistle and would be lopping around or sweeping into a pile their plaster breakage - while the 4 workers were hot and dirty.
i don't think he did a lick of work - but it was his name on the van. i was furious. that job cost me over $7k to re-wire a 4bedroom 2bath 100 year old home.
i asked him to do something else outside the bid and his price jumped to $75/hr.
unbelievable.
don't u agree?

Answer 1

Sounds like he is trying to retire early on your money. I hate that because I am a contractor too.

Answer 2

Freak said it right......your paying for a job to get done, not for a specific person to do a job. I own my company and I rarely do work unless time is a concern. I bet you didn't notice all the work he had to do at the office, the planning, the cert of insurance, the license....who do you think does all the calculations to have ready for the correct wire size and service wires, which wires and hot spots can go on the same circuits. the workers don't go thru the 788 page NEC code book to know how many inches EACH outlet has to be from eachother, or how many wires can service each room, or the amp capacity for each load. All your aware of is that hes clean, but you need to know hes the clean one because hes the smart one. I charge $75 an hour for my professional team, but then again I'm located in New York City.

Also, if it is a small job, it has to be worth my while, so i might up it to $100 an hour....if you ask me to add another outlet and its going to take me an hour, Im not going to do an outlet for $55, it is a sliding scale.

Answer 3

You were probably overcharged for the workers rates if they were not licensed electricians. He or at least one of the workers should have been licensed, in which case that rate may not have been high enough, depending on the area where you live. I assume you also had to pay for materials above and beyond the hourly rate.

Assuming you were paying Time and Materials then you should have gotten a summary of hours each person worked and could have checked on them to make sure they were really on the job and not off somewhere else.

To save some money you could have also negotiated with him for you to do the initial tear-out and then the cleanup each day. You could have also negotiated to pull your own wires and do some of the wire termination to save money and have the electrician just inspect the work.

Answer 4

It sounds like the guy you hired was on the job the whole time keeping his crew working. Wiring jobs are notoriously unpredictible. The simple act of pulling one wire can turn into a nightmare, especially in a 100 year old home. He kept the jobsite clean and you didn't mention anything negative, except maybe the price.

Answer 5

$40 is probably his minimum charge. I would think he would have stated that to you when you called. He may have been there only 15 minutes. But time is $. Next time consider calling a computer repair shop. They may be able to make the repair remotely.....With no need to come out. However, that too could be the same price, or even more. Consider the positive. He knew what he was doing and only took 15 minutes. He could have been there an hour, and charged you much more!.......♥♥

Answer 6

Could be shady, but maybe not too. That dollar amount doesn't sound to far off if he did a good job. A job like that needs a supervisor too. Sometimes the highest skilled person's best role is to monitor his workers and help them when they need it.

Answer 7

I rerwired a similar house for a total of $1200. That was with my labor. The $1200 was for materials only. The price you was charged sounds a little high for my area (ONLY a little high), but rates elsewhere are a lot higher.

Answer 8

wow, you really live in your own world don't you. if you bid the job then you don't have any right to tell him how to run his company or his job. he choses how to run the job within the limits of his contract. he is accountable for the work but he is not under any obligation to let you micro manage him. YOU took the bid on the price and conditions set forth in the contract and he delivered a job at the price set by the contract. bottom line? Sh!t aint free. if you don't like paying contractors to do your work for you then do it yourself.

Answer 9

Yes I agree, but unfortunately it is soooo common. My family owns a lighting company and we just had to fire the head of our electrical dept. for the same thing. The guy that holds the license never wants to work. He just signs off that it was done. RIDICULOUS!!! You are paying for his slip of paper that if something goes wrong he gets sued & he has to carry the insurance, but not paying him to do any actual work.

Answer 10

This is just a case of paying for what he knows and not what he does. He has the license (I hope) and the business license, insurance and bonding. This cost does not surprise me and is not unreasonable.